Album Notes

Dennis Koster has achieved what many guitarists can only hope to achieve. Not only is he one of the most talented composers and instrumentalists in his field, but he has also achieved the difficult task of mastery of the two great Spanish guitar traditions: flamenco and classical.

While still very young, Dennis Koster became enamored with the music of the flamenco guitar and immediately sought out to learn all he could about the fascinating art. He began his studies in 1963 in New York City, and within a year, he was accepted as a student by the world renowned master Mario Escudero. Escudero himself studied under the great Ramón Montoya, the creator of the modern concert flamenco guitar. Due to his great ability to learn and play flamenco, Dennis quickly began to perform regularly both as an accompanist and soloist for several important and well known Spanish dance companies throughout New York and other cities. Later, he had the rare privilege of studying for years with who was unquestionably known as the greatest flamenco guitar virtuoso of his time, Sabicas. The wonderful influence and tradition of Sabicas and his music is still carried on today by Dennis Koster.

While in his twenties, Dennis Koster embarked on his studies of classical music, and soon discovered his unique ability of creating his own works and transcribing classical masterworks of such composers as Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, Brahms and Schumann. The majority of his transcriptions have never been transcribed for classical guitar before. During this time he was an active performing member of the Affiliate Artists and began to be greatly sought after as a teacher by many throughout New York and the United States. In the 1980's, Dennis began his collaboration with composer Samuel Zyman of the Juilliard School, a union which resulted in several commissioned works including Zyman's Sonata for Solo Guitar and Concerto for Guitar and String Orchestra.

Over the past two and a half decades, Dennis has performed regularly at all the major concert halls in New York City including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Town Hall, Symphony Space and the Spanish Institute. His performances both as a soloist and in collaboration with orchestras and other musicians always draws the highest praise from the media and major music critics. In addition to concertizing throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Spain and Japan, Dennis has concurrently taught at the American Institute of Guitar and authored the internationally best-selling three volume teaching method, The Keys to Flamenco Guitar. Dennis has recently been signed with the Musical Heritage Society and appears on their Music Masters label with his best-selling CD Flamenco Clásico, distributed through BMG Music. Early in 2001, his eagerly awaited CD of original transcriptions of piano masterworks by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms will finally be released.

Some of Dennis' most recent appearances include performances at the Music in the Mountains Summer Festival in Grass Valley, California, at the Desert Foothills Musicfest in Carefree, Arizona, and in New York City sponsored by the Bronx Art Ensemble and the World Music Institute. Dennis' artistry was greatly heralded by Gendai Magazine after his extended concert tour of Japan. His work continues in the new millennium, carrying on the breathtaking achievement of his mastery of flamenco and classical guitar.